SALENIA VAEISPIH \ 19 



ring is striated, the lines forming irregularly lozenge-shaped figures, arranged 

 as they have been figured by Loven for Salenia goVsiana (Lov6n, Etudes sur 

 Irs EchindidSes, PI. XIX. i. The limits of these figures, both in the smallest 



specimen and in one measuring '2 nun. in diameter, are somewhat indistinct, 

 owing to the coarse, spongj granulation of the limestone tissue of the plates 

 of the abactinal system. In the majority of the young specimens examined, 

 this striatum could not be detected at all, and in older specimens, measuring 

 from 4—8 mm. in diameter, 1 was unable to do more than trace portion- of 

 this striation on account of the granulation of the plates. 



1 am now inclined to consider Salenia go'esiana of Love'n as identical 

 with S. varispina ; it certainly agrees very closely with the young of & 

 varispina of the same size (3.5 mm. i collected by the "Blake" in the West 

 Indies. These young specimens show, as 1 have stated above, the peculiar 

 striation of the abactinal system of S. go'esiana, though the size of the tuber- 

 cles of the ambulacral system is somewhat smaller in the young of our 

 X. varispina than in the figure given by Love'n. The abnormal position of 

 the madreporic body in the original type specimen of S. varispina is also 

 accounted for in the description which follows. 



As regards the actinal system, in young specimens we find ten large 

 plates in the continuation of the ambulacral system, spreading laterally so as 

 to form a continuous ring. The space between the inner edge of these 

 plates and the teeth is filled with small plates irregularly arranged. The 

 ten large buccal tentacles are sometimes reduced to iixe, one in each ambu- 

 lacrum being frequently atrophied or much smaller than the other. In these 

 young specimens, the splueridia first detected in this genus by Duncan 

 stand out very prominently between the first and second pair of ambulacral 

 tentacles. I have only observed one in each ambulacral area in the smaller 

 specimens ; in older ones, we find sometimes as many as three nt the base of 

 the ambulacral area. The sphseridia of the younger Salenia' are nearly 

 hemispherical with a rather Inn-' peduncle; in older specimens, they become 

 more ellipsoid, and are supported upon a comparatively shorter stem. 



'I'le- primary spines of the youngest Salenise are \f\y remarkable; the 

 short, sharp spin} processes of the main shaft, which have been figured as 



characteristic of the primary spines of Salenia'. are in these specimens 



replaced by long, slender, run ed filiform processes, arranged on each side 

 of the .-haft, and equal in length three times the diameter of the Bhaft. 



• Ann and Mi.-, of Nat Hint, XX. 70, 



